Wednesday, November 04, 2015

Selangor government is a DAP-PAS-PKR coalition government, and people are concerned about roads where we have to pay toll.

Recent allegation that there may 3 other new toll highways in Selangor is disturbing, and Azmin recently said he did not approve any new highways since taking office. But, the question that remains is whether we will be seeing new toll highways in Selangor - and was it approved by Selangor. If it was approved before Azmin became Menteri Besar, the fact still remains that this is a Pakatan Rakyat governed state. Explain that...

Azmin to face PKR over alleged approval of 3 Selangor highways

BY ELIZABETH ZACHARIAH

Published: 28 October 2015 1:39 PM

Selangor
Menteri Besar Mohamed Azmin Ali will be asked to account for his
alleged approval of three highways in the state without the consultation
of PKR leadership. – The Malaysian Insider file pic, October 28, 2015.Selangor
Menteri Besar Mohamed Azmin Ali will be hauled up to explain
allegations that ‎he approved the construction of three highways in the
state without consulting the party leadership, PKR president Datuk Seri
Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail said.
She said Azmin would have to face the party this Friday during the tabling of the Selangor Budget 2016.
"I will ask him what happened," the opposition leader said outside
Parliament today when asked if Azmin would be asked to explain the
matter.
"This Friday, we have the Selangor Budget so I will ask him to explain to the party."
Sinar Harian yesterday reported PKR secretary-general Rafizi Ramli as
saying that Azmin would have to face the party leadership over the
allegations.
Sinar Harian's report mentioned the 32km Sungai Besi-Ulu Kelang
highway that will cut through Cheras, Kajang and Taman Putra Ampang.
The report said the 60-year concession was awarded to Projek Lintasan
Kota Holdings (Prolintas), and was expected to resolve traffic
congestion problems in several highways in the Klang Valley.
The state government had approved another highway, the East Klang
Valley Expressway (EKVE) in June, which environmentalists said would cut
through the Ampang reserve, a critical source of water for the Klang
Valley.
This, they said was not in line with Azmin’s pledge on January 7 to ban development which harmed the environment.
Earlier in the year, Azmin pulled the plug on the controversial
Kinrara-Damansara Expressway (Kidex) for failing to fulfil the
conditions set by the state government.
Among the conditions were for independent traffic and social impact
assessments to prove that the project would benefit not only road users,
but also those living along the alignment, as well as the negatives of
the project.
The state also wanted the concessionaire to reveal the toll rate
throughout the concession period, including any hikes in between. It
also wanted to know the amount the concessionaire would collect during
the concession period and the rate of return on investment.
The fourth condition was for the full concession agreement to be
disclosed in line with the state government’s thrust on transparency and
accountability.
Azmin had also said earlier this month there was no definite decision
on whether to build a proposed Damansara-Shah Alam Highway (DASH), to
which residents had objected.
Last month, residents' lobby group Say No to DASH (SNTD) had also
urged Azmin to give clear answers on which highways had been approved
following confusion and "errors" involving the listing of certain highways supposedly cancelled in the state's development plans.
SNTD said if found that the last portion of the proposed DASH was
still included in the Draft Selangor State Structure Plan (SSP) 2035,
despite the menteri besar's promise to the contrary.
Azmin had also previously admitted that the inclusion of the
Kinrara-Damansara Expressway (Kidex) in the SPP was a mistake, as the
state government had already decided to cancel the project.
SNTD said that as of November last year, Kidex, DASH and the East
Klang Valley Expressway (EKVE) were still listed as projects under the
Selangor government’s development master plan. – October 28, 2015.

Fadillah: Three new highways will benefit S’gor people

Federal government hopes the expressways will ease traffic congestion on existing roads in the state, says minister.

KUALA LUMPUR: The approval given for the construction of three
expressways in Selangor is a rational decision made for the benefit of
the people, said Works Minister Fadillah Yusof.

He said the federal government had been hoping for new expressways to
be built to help ease traffic congestion on existing roads in the
state.

“Besides being beneficial to the country’s economy, it will also be
of huge benefit to the people of Selangor and neighbouring areas,” he
told reporters after opening the ministry’s Innovation Day 2015 here
today.

Selangor Menteri Besar Mohamed Azmin Ali was recently reported to
have approved the construction of the Sungai Besi-Ulu Kelang Elevated
Expressway, the Damansara-Shah Alam Elevated Expressway and the East
Klang Valley Expressway.

However, the decision became an issue as the menteri besar had
allegedly made the decision without informing the state’s ruling party,
Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR).

I have not approved any highway since becoming MB, says Azmin

BY DIYANA IBRAHIM

Published: 2 November 2015 5:58 PM | Updated: 2 November 2015 6:17 PM

Selangor
Menteri Besar Mohamed Azmin Ali says there have been no highway
approvals since he took office late last year. – The Malaysian Insider
filepic, November 2, 2015.Selangor Menteri Besar Mohamed
Azmin Ali today told the state legislative assembly that he had not
given approvals for the construction of highways in the state since he
took over the position.
He said after the cancellation of the Kinrara-Damansara Expressway
(Kidex), the state government accepted the fact that building highways
was not the answer to traffic congestion issues in the state.
"After being given the trust as menteri besar and after Kidex was
cancelled, there has been no other approval given to build any highway
in Selangor," he said in answer to a question by Permatang assemblyman
Datuk Sulaiman Razak (Barisan Nasional).
Azmin, who is also PKR deputy president, took over as menteri besar from Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim last September.
The state government, he said, was in the process of completing a
study of the public transportation main plans, and expected it to be
ready by the end of the year.
"That is why, in the public transportation structure plan, we take
into account the opinions of the public and the needs of new
developments," the Bukit Antarabangsa assemblyman said.
At the same time, Azmin said Selangor was the process of negotiating
with Putrajaya to look into the target set by the Land Public
Transportation Commission (SPAD) that gave importance to the usage of
using private vehicles compared to public transportation with a 40:60.
"If this remains, it will give room to more highways being built and that does not solve any problem."
In fact, the state government also recently announced a joint venture
in the Light Rail Transit (LRT) with Kumpulan Prasarana Malaysia
Berhad.
"Even if it (LRT) is completed by 2020, it can have a capacity of 70,000 passengers per day from Bandar Utama to Johan Setia."
Besides that, when asked if the government can approve all Kidex
projects that have been cancelled, he said it would never happen. –
November 2, 2015.

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